Ontario, Canada: Indian priest Susai Jesu, a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, has been named the new Metropolitan Archbishop of Keewatin–Le Pas in Canada. The announcement was made by Pope Leo XIV on November 17, and the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India later confirmed the appointment in an official statement.

Fr. Jesu is currently serving as a Provincial Councillor and as the Parish Priest of the Sacred Heart of the First Peoples within the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Edmonton. He takes over a position that had remained unfilled since Archbishop Murray Chatlain was transferred to the Archdiocese of Winnipeg in December 2024.

Born on May 17, 1971, in Pushpavanam, Tamil Nadu, Jesu pursued his philosophical studies at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram in Bengaluru and completed his theological formation at the Khrist Premalaya Institute of Theology in Ashta. He later obtained a master’s degree in pastoral counselling from Saint Paul University, Ottawa. In the year 2000, he made his perpetual profession with the Oblates and was ordained as a priest in the same year.

Throughout his ministry, Jesu has worked in various pastoral missions in India and Canada. His early service included parish responsibilities in Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh), Surala Kappa (North India), and Kombadimadurai (Tamil Nadu).

After moving to Canada, he ministered as a parish priest in Pelican Narrows and Sandy Bay from 2009 to 2015, and later assumed leadership of the Sacred Heart of the First Peoples parish in Edmonton in 2017. He has also been part of the Oblates’ Provincial Council since 2019.

The Archdiocese of Keewatin–Le Pas, known for its vast and remote northern territory, spans regions of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, as well as parts of northwestern Ontario. The archdiocese includes diverse communities such as Cree, Oji-Cree, Dene, Metis, and non-Indigenous populations, continuing a long legacy of missionary activity in Canada’s northern regions.